As demand for electricity continues to increase and approaches maximum capacity, new demands being placed upon generation and utility grid distribution infrastructure, energy prices will escalate and rolling blackouts and grid failures will become more common occurrences. Historically, the basic method of electrical generation and distribution systems has not changed since the first generation facility and utility grid was established. Utilities have traditionally responded to increased demand by overbuilding their generation and distribution capabilities to alleviate failure of the system during peak demand, with the system being designed for one-way energy distribution from large, remote generation facilities to where the energy is demanded and consumed. Peak grid is the most significant problem the utility sector has with generating and distributing electrical energy to consumers because of the time of day the energy is demanded, the type of energy required and demanded, and from electrical and gas utilities at the demand site.
Adding to the challenges facing the utility sector is the inefficient and aging generation and distribution infrastructure which is becoming increasingly incapable of both meeting growing current demand and expanding to meet future demand. Such expansion will be difficult and expensive given strict environmental laws, inherent inefficiencies, significant capital expense, extended build out timeframes, and introduction of carbon emission taxes.
Over the years a myriad of technologies and products have been developed and offered as potential solutions to these many challenges with limited success. Efforts have focussed on the areas of: energy management systems to improve generation, distribution, and the control of the electricity; distributed generation and/or cogeneration systems at the demand site; and improving the efficiency of electrical, gas, and other energy devices to reduce consumption.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,085,660 describes a method and system for optimizing the performance of a generation and distribution system using historical data and short term load forecasts. U.S. Pat. No. 6,775,594 B1 describes a method of dispatching and ranking a plurality of electrical generation systems over a computer network and controlling them by a central monitoring and control system with the goal to reduce utility service brownouts and blackouts.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,583,521 discloses an energy management system for power generators located at or near a customer's premise dedicated to the needs of that consumer. U.S. Pat. No. 7,133,852 discloses an electricity generation equipment management system for onsite power generation supplied to the consumer and interaction with a service company for maintenance through a central management center. U.S. Pat. No. 6,757,591 describes a method and system for managing the generation and distribution of energy to a building.
A significant contributor to peak demand, emissions, and demand cycles is hot water consumption and the heating and cooling of homes and businesses. Applicant believes most heat, and hot water account for more than 70 percent of typical North American household energy usage. In the heating and cooling industry, micro combined heat power (MCHP) cogeneration systems commonly include an engine; a generator to generate electricity using a rotating force outputted from the engine; and a heat transfer means to supply waste or unused heat of the engine to a hydronic heat pump such as a water heater or an air conditioning device.
Historically, electricity generated from a generator is used to operate electrical devices such as electrical heaters, fans or lights in the event of a complete loss of electricity from Utility distribution grids after loss of electrical utility service, which is reactive, rather than proactive resulting in inefficiency at eliminating peak demand and utility failure.
Two common methods of releasing heat from the generator are hydronic coolant and a cooling fan to prevent overheating. The heat transfer means recovers waste heat of cooling water used to cool the engine or waste heat of exhaust gas discharged from the engine, and supplies the recovered waste heat to a water heater or an air conditioning device. However, such a conventional cogeneration system experiences problems of increased noise during operation of the cooling fan, inefficient capture and utilization of generator waste heat, and limited enhancement in the efficiency of the system, including insufficient electricity for the heating and cooling system to operate independent of electricity supplied by the utility grid when utility service fails.
There have been considerable research and development efforts in the prior art to develop an economically-viable cogeneration unit for the typical residential energy user with both power and thermal energy needs. Various attempts have been made to increase the efficiency of cogeneration systems.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,284,709 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,040,544 are prior art examples of cogeneration units that employ a water-cooled internal combustion engine in combination with an electrical generator and hydronic heat exchanger technology. The efficiency of such an engine generator combination depends to a great extent upon the amount of so-called waste heat which can be recovered from the engine exhaust and engine coolant for heating and cooling needs. In many instances, the engine-generator set is mounted in the open environment, that is, in the outside ambient air, on a concrete pad or similar platform and little to no effort is made to recover heat which is lost through radiation to the atmosphere. In fact, many designs rely on heat radiation for engine cooling. U.S. Pat. No. 7,174,727 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,380,909 are prior art examples of cogeneration units that employ a water-cooled internal combustion engine in combination with an electrical generator and outdoor heat exchanger.
In applicant's view, the prior art reflects that current systems are not efficient in cold weather climates. Air Source Heat Pump technology becomes less efficient as the temperature of the air decreases. There is less heat energy in the air, thereby requiring more electrical energy to extract heat from the air. In addition, air source heat pumps may have to engage a defrost cycle, temporarily halting heating of the building in order to create heat for its own use in order to thaw its components. U.S. Pat. No. 7,503,184 is an example of prior art that attempts to overcome these deficiencies.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,262,209 describes an engine and generator which are housed within a thermally-insulated enclosure to capture radiated heat, and also to attenuate the sound level of operation.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,495,901 describes a system in which intake air for the engine is circulated through the enclosure for preheating, which tends to capture some of the radiated heat. However, preheating the air results in a less dense fuel charge to the engine and undesirably reduces the rated horsepower of the engine and therefore may lower the electrical output.
Thermal storage heat systems are used in heat pumps in systems such as air conditioning in order to shift the loads which are applied to the system to achieve load levelling and avoid the need to provide a pump which is designed to meet the maximum load requirements when maximum load requirements are only required for a limited period of its day-to-day operation. In the prior art U.S. Pat. No. 5,355,688, U.S. Pat. No. 5,755,104, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,554,797, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,686,959 demonstrate this technique.
When the engine is enclosed in a thermally insulated enclosure, heat is radiated until the enclosure air reaches a temperature approximating that of the engine which is then dispersed without a thermal storage unit resulting in inefficiency of operation. Moreover, frequent engine start-ups and shut-downs significantly compound the reduction of efficiency of the system. The situation is not greatly improved if a circulating air fan is used to scavenge some of the heated air for use as engine intake air, as discussed earlier, and heat exchangers are not sufficiently efficient.
Society's energy consumption and emissions have become great concern to governments and individuals, with many efforts being made at all levels to monitor, reduce, and control these while balancing important economic and environmental drivers. These efforts include energy financial incentives and new emission taxation and credit systems to encourage people to seek more environmentally beneficial products and behaviour. U.S. Pat. No. 7,181,320, US Patent Application US 2007/0179683 and US Patent Application US 2006/0195334 are examples of prior art that provide methods for monitoring and managing emissions. U.S. Pat. No. 6,216,956 describes an indoor environmental condition control and energy management system for onsite control and reduction of energy costs and consumption. U.S. Pat. No. 5,528,507 and US Patent Application US 2006/0155423 describe systems that include grid-level monitoring with onsite management of energy at demand sites. Additionally, prior art provides for power management at the device level with the intent to reduce energy consumption and provide control devices. U.S. Pat. No. 5,270,505 provides for a remotely controlled switch/receptacle. US Patent Application US 2008/0221737 and US Patent Application US 2007/0136453 describe networked power management devices and systems for communication and energy control to an electrical device. In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 7,373,222 and Patent Applications US 2009/0018706 and US 2008/0116745 provide systems and apparatus for network and load control systems to shut off or reconnect power to a device. These methods and systems have the overall goal of controlling when electricity is provided to electrical devices in order to reduce peak demand and/or energy costs.
Adding to the efficiency losses in providing power from remote locations over a distribution grid, where more than two thirds of the energy may be lost as waste heat, are the overbuilding and underutilization of the generation and distribution of remote electrical energy because of the time of day and season to which said energy is demanded. With electrical generation, and also the distribution of natural gas, the support infrastructures are structured to provide for the peak demand loads residential home customers place on the systems. This peak demand only occurs for short periods of time within a day, for example between 6 am-9 am and 5 pm to 10 pm. This means that current natural gas and electrical generation and distribution infrastructures experience underutilized capacity for the majority of time of use. With time-of-use and smart meters being installed in large numbers, energy is becoming most expensive when it's needed the most.
Known cogeneration systems are deficient in certain regards by failing to take into account the nature of the costs, infrastructure scope, and consumer behaviour for the different types of energy demanded, largely dictated in part by society, work, and such. Because of this, utility companies must provide generation, transmission, and distributing capacity sufficient to service the potential maximum total demand of all their connected customers which occurs simultaneously all at the same time. This peak demand tends to follow a daily cycle with two peaks during the day—one in the early morning and one during the evening, and a seasonal cycle, with a peak in the summer in moderate and warm climates due in part to air conditioning, and a peak in the winter in colder regions due in part to space heating and hot water which account for more than 70% of their demand.
Electricity in particular has unique symbiotic relationships among generation, distribution, and consumption stakeholders. No one gives any thought to turning on a light in a room when they turn on the switch—but what is not widely understood or appreciated is that somewhere (possibly on the other side of the country) the energy required by their demand has to be generated and then distributed to them. Conversely, when a light is turned off, the energy that was being generated and provided now needs to go to another consumer almost instantly or a generation station needs to scale back its electricity production to compensate. If this near-instant interaction is thrown out of balance, brownouts and blackouts occur, resulting in significant problems, damage and lost economic output. As robust and available our energy systems are to the average consumer, the relationships and dynamics among all stakeholders are tenacious, tenable, and fragile. Because of this, the equipment and generating capacity which is necessary to maintain the system and supply peak demand energy becomes idle much of the time. Our energy systems experience heavy demands placed upon it, usually during time-of-day and seasonal peak demands which may coincide or collaborate, and causing failure to the system. In a sense, a single consumer can bring the whole system down for all other users on the grid by placing that one extra demand (i.e. space heater) on the system which causes excessive demand beyond what the system is capable of generating and distributing. A good parable is if everyone turns their water faucets on at the same time, no one would have any water pressure, and hence no water. The cost of overbuilding the generation and distribution systems to prevent the failure of the grid from excessive peak demand, and having capacity available ‘just in case’ must be borne by the utility company customers. In addition, there is significant estimating on the part of the utility companies regarding energy demand which results in either overbuilding generation and distribution infrastructure or non-availability of energy with resulting brownouts, blackouts, or complete grid service failure to customers.
With stiff environmental laws, long environmental impact study time cycles, and significant time delays combined with bringing new electrical generation and distribution infrastructure online, utility companies are challenged to provide electrical energy in a timely and cost-effective manner to their customers. Utility companies attempt to apportion such costs and estimates among their customers according to their respective peak usage by basing their electricity charges for individual customers upon their historical peak demand usage. Utility companies which provide natural gas to residential homes also face similar challenges and are actively working to reduce consumer peak demand on their infrastructure and product. It is expensive and disruptive for national gas suppliers to dig up and improve their distribution capacity.
Ultimately, Utility companies have limited control over their customers' energy consumption, demand, and future consumption, other than indirect means through the sponsorship of energy conservation measures applied to when customers use energy during the day, rebates for replacing inefficient consumer appliances, energy discounts to customers for time-of-use consumption, and the like. Some would say that Utility companies have very little or no control over their customers energy consumption, demand, etc. For instance, Utility companies may charge different rates for electrical energy used during predetermined times such as peak demand, intermediate, and off-peak periods during the day. Utility companies may also impose a peak-power demand charge based on the customer's usage of peak power demand during a predetermined demand period, such as during a 15-minute period over a day cycle.